In search of answers to this question the Western Cape education department decided to acknowledge schools that have managed to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of primary school learners.
This is part of the department’s comprehensive literacy and numeracy strategy, which entails the ongoing assessment of these foundational skills in grade three and six learners.
In 2007 the Western Cape education department included nearly 72 000 grade six learners in about 1 000 schools in the initiative, which showed that its learners were making steady progress in literacy, though numeracy remained a challenge in most schools.
One of the schools that has, however, achieved consistently in both literacy and numeracy is Oakhurst Girls’ Primary School in Rondebosch, Cape Town. Oakhurst received an award for excellent performance in both literacy and numeracy in all the grade six tests that have been conducted so far. The school achieved an overall average of 88,1% in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
Oakhurst Primary School’s principal Jenny van Velden said: “At Oakhurst we’re very lucky that most of the children who come to the school have had a very good grade R grounding and when we get them in grade one they are ready to proceed with literacy as it should be done.
“We are lucky that we have a well-resourced library and resources that assist the teachers in making their job a lot easier. We also believe in a strong, solid foundation so we have gone back to the basics. The phonics and the tables are non-negotiables and we feel that is what has made our literacy and our numeracy strong.
“We work very much as a team because we’re a small school. We have a small staff so we are able to work together as a team and make sure that what happens in the foundation phase is carried through to the school.”
Judging from learners’ comments, these approaches seem to work. One of Oakhurst’s learners said: “I enjoy maths because its challenging and its very methodical and set rules that always stay the same and you don’t have to learn exceptions and things like that.”
Another said: “I enjoy reading because it brings you into a new world and you can just relax and get away from everything else. Just sit on your bed and read for hours without anybody disturbing you.”
Teacher Adelaide Hoffman says there are some other practices that the school has embraced which are also paying off.
“One of the interventions that we apply starts before the class arrives ,with me. We have personal profiles that give the teacher the strengths and weaknesses of all the pupils. You understand your class before they arrive and that gives you an opportunity to do your planning so you can have extension activities to build on strengths and activities to help in weak areas.
“We also have smaller groups; classes are divided, we work in smaller groups and children are given special attention, especially in areas in which they are weak.”